Buckle.



Patented Feb. 27, I900. G. V. BATES.

B U 6K L E (Application filed m 31, 1899.

(No Modal.)

WITNESSES: A%u4% 4 IN VENTOR: me fa/ad By 113" Attorney MW NITED STATES GEORGE V. BATES, OF MAMARONECK, NEIV YORK.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,314, dated February 2'7, 1900.

Application filed July 21,1899. Serial No. 724,705. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE V. BATES, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mamaroneck, in the county of lVestchester and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to an improvement in buckles, and particularly to that class of buckle in which the ordinary pivoted claws are dispensed with and in which the holding effect of the buckle is secured by projections formed on some perinanentpart of thebuckle.

The invention will be best understood by a reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of the buckle and strap attached. Fig.2 is a side view. Fig. 3 is an additional view of the buckle when it is loose and the points not in engagement, and Fig. 4c is a view of the buckle itself without the straps.

In the drawings similar letters and figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the various views, l3 designates the buckle, which is struck or made from a sin gle piece or sheet of metal and comprises a frame having side bars 4 and 6 and the middle bar 5.

In the various forms of buckles heretofore used the holding-strap is generally attached to the middle bar 5, and the buckle-strap l is arranged to pass in some way under or between the middle bar and the side bars 4 and 6 and to engage with the hooks which hold it.

In the present invention the holding-strap is attached not to the middle bar 5, but to the side bar 6, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and the movement of the buckle=strap is 0011- trolled not as in these various earlier forms of buckles by means of hooks placed upon the upper face of one of the side bars of the buckle, but by means of prongs, hooks, or other projections 7 7, attached to the inner face of the side bar 4 in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and which are so formed that when the buckle is drawn tight the 5b prongs or projections 7 7 will engage with the strap, as shown in Fig. 2, and hold the same firmly in position. The form of these hooks is such that when it is desired to tighten the buckle the buckle-strap is merely pulled or slid along on the curved under surfaces of the projections, without moving the buckle from right to left, until the point is reached where the strap is suficiently tight, whereupon all that is necessary to do is to cause the hooks 7 7 to engage with and become caught in the cloth of the buckle-strap, giving it a slight pull in the opposite direction, and the buckle will be immediately held tight and fast. In order to remove the hooks from'the cloth, all that is necessary to do is to tilt or turn the buckle on the central shank 5 to a position where the points of hooks will emerge from the material of which the bucklestrap is made, whereupon the hooks will slide I free from the buckle-strap, and the adjustment may be effected, as before, in the ordinary way, The buckle can be tightened by simply pulling the strap from right to left or left to right, as the case may be. It will be observed that this is a very simple construction,

much safer for ordinary use than the ordinary form of buckle now in use, for the reason that the prongs are always just below the center bar and their extremities are protected, so that while they can come in contact and engage with the strap they cannot engage with the lining of the garment and tear or otherwise injure it, as the position of these hooks or prongs is such that it is practically impossible for any injury to be effected either to other clothing or to the hand. The adjustment, moreover, is more readily efiected than in the ordinary form of adjustment with prongs pivoted by the'central shank.

The precise form of the hooks 7 7 is shown in cross-section-in Fig. 3, and any number of them may be used. They are preferably formedin one piece with the side bar 4. They extend diagonally downward, as shown, and the ends are then bent upward at right angles to their original direction, so that their points will be substantially on a level with the lower face of the bar 5, as shown in Fig. 3, and in the direction of their length they will conform to the direction of the buckle-strap 'as it passes through the buckle. As a result of this construction the hooks terminate in substantially the same plane, in close prox= tween 5 and at is so proportioned that when the hooks 7 7 are bent up, so that their points assume the proper position, the points of the hooks will engage with the upper face of the buckle-strap, as shown in Fig. 3, and when the same is slightly pulled from right to left in that figure they will enter and hold the same. It will be observed that in each case the inner surface of the side bars is parallel to the surface of the intermediate bar, without reference to the fact that the corners of the buckle may be squared or rounded off. The stifiness of the substance from which the belt is constructed obviates the necessity of more than one hook. In cases where the buckle is used with a very narrow strap or with any stiff substancesuch as in the case of a belt of leather, canvas, &c.-a single hook only maybe employed instead of a plurality of hooks and for the reason that the work will be equally well done by it, adjustment more readily effected, and the cost of construction lessened.

I claim as my invention as follows:

The herein-described garment-buckle, the same consisting of a frame comprising an intermediate bar and opposite openings, the outer edge of one of said openings having a hook, which latter has its inner portion disposed inwardly at substantially a right angle to the frame and at a point some distance therefrom acutely bent outwardly terminating in an entering-point in close proximity to and in substantially the same plane with the adjacent edge of the said intermediate bar,substa n tially as and for the purpose specified. I V

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in preseigce of two witnesses, this 8th day of July, 1 99.

GEORG E V. BATES.

Witnesses:

T. S. COREY, FRANK S. TURNBULL. 

